Vending machine



Oct. 29, 1935. P. MILLER El AL 2,019,019

, VENDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 1, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS. EarlRiv/Z216 A TTORNEYS Oct. 29, 1935. MILLER ET AL 2,019,019

VENDIIIIG MACHINE File d Nov. 1, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 H @921 772 mcaz'zu ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 29, 1935. r AL 2,Ql9,019

VENDING MACHINE Filed NOV. 1, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEYS- PatentedOct. 29, 1935 UNITED STATES VENDING MACHINE Earl P. Miller and Albert R.McCallum, Detroit, Mich.

Application November 1, 1933, Serial No. 696,126

6 Claims.

Our invention relates to improvements in vending machines and moreparticularly to machines for vending newspapers, magazines and otherperiodicals.

We are aware that in the past vending machines have been produced forthe distribution of newspapers, magazines and the like but none of thesemachines have been positive in action and none have proved successfulcommercially. The defects have been of a structural nature and due tothe complexity of the mechanism which results in consequent high cost ofinitial production and in prohibitive maintenance expense. The machinesor" the prior art have been impractical largely because of failure tostand up under service conditions. Failure to deliver the article whichthey were contemplated to vend, either due to jamming or improperoperation of the parts or other causes, results in lack of confidence onthe part of the buying public who use the machines so that they areentirely impractical from a commercial standpoint.

We have provided an improved form of vending machine for the purpose setforth which completely overcomes all of the objections to vendingmachines of the prior art, and which operates consistently withoutfailure over long periods of time under severe service conditions, andrequires little or no maintenance and may be produced at a small initialcost. The embodiment of the machine of our invention, shown in theaccompanying drawings and described in the following description, isparticularly adapted for and designed to vend newspapers and magazinesbut its use for the vending of other articles, package goods orotherwise, is fully contemplated.

It is a general object of this invention to provide an improved vendingmachine.

Another object of our invention is to provide a machine which ispositive in action, that is, actuated by positive mechanical linkage ascontrasted to spring action.

- Another object is to provide a vending machine having a mechanicallyoperated ejector mecha- 45. nism of improved type.

Another object is to provide a machine which may be produced at low costand one wherein all of the major parts are stamped of light metal.

Another object of our invention is to provide in 50 an improved vendingmachine of this type a novel system of cam and lever action foreffecting the ejection of the object to be vended.

A further object of our invention is to produce a machine of the utmostsimplicity of design and 65;: having a greatly reduced number of parts.

A still further object of our invention is to provide a machine offool-proof design which cannot fail in operation on account of abuse onthe part of the user.

A still further object of our invention is to provide an improved typeof means for indicating the number of papers contained in the device atany time.

Another object of our invention is to provide novel means, in themachine of our invention, to 10 prevent jamming due to inserting a coinbefore the operating handle has been completely returned to its startingposition.

These and many other objects and advantages will readily become apparentthrough a reading 15 of the following detailed description and anexamination of the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the vending machine of our inventionshown with the cover 20 or housing removed.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the machine shown in Fig. 1 looking towards themachine from the right hand side of Fig. 1 illustrating the operatinghandle and linkage.

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the machine taken on theline 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the machine illustrated inFig. 1 lookingtowards the left hand side of the machine, with the cover or enclosinghousing shown assembled on the machine in cross section.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the machine illustrated in Fig. 1 with'theexternal housing of the machine omitted.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan detail view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 1illustrating the ejecting mechanism of our invention.

Fig. 7 is a further enlarged vertical detail view taken on the line 1-1of Fig. 6 illustrating the manner in which the operating cams raise theoperating levers of the ejecting mechanism.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. '7illustrating the operating cams and levers.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged detail horizontal section taken on the line 9-9 ofFig. '7 illustrating the manner in which the operating arms and ejectingmembers are joined.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the cover housing ofthe device of our invention, parts being broken away to illustratecertain novel details.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged horizontal detail crosssectional View taken onthe line I l--l l of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is an enlarged detail view similar to Fig.

7 illustrating a modified form. of cam operating mechanism of ourinvention.

Referring now to the detailed description .and accompanying drawings inwhich like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views,we have illustrated in Fig. 1 a pedestal IE on which the machine may bemounted. The vending machine of our invention is indicated generally bythe numeral it .and comprises a plurality of parallel metal partitionmembers I! spaced equidistant from each other to form individualcompartments adapted to contain a newspaper, magazine or other articleto be vended. In the modification of our device illustrated in thedrawings there are'twelve of these individual compartments (see Figs. 3and 5), although we contemplate the use of fewer or more compartments ifdesired. The compartments are vertically disposed and extendtransversely of the machine from one end to the other when viewed fromthe front. As illustrated in Fig. 6, the end edges it of the partitionsH are bent at right angles to form a closure for the side or end of eachcompartment. These ends ill form theside walls and may be fixed togetherby welding, or in any other suitable manner, to cross pieces H] whichextend from the front to the rear and serve to tie thepartition memberstogether in one unit (see Figs. 1, 3 and 6). Any other suitable mannerof forming the plurality of compartments may be employed.

We thus provide a unit of twelve compartments all formed from stampedmetal parts each adapted to contain a single magazine or newspaper invertical position and the compartment being narrow enough to prevent themagazine or newspaper from folding or curling and always retaining theobject to be vended in upright vertical position. We next provide abottom Zll for each compartment which is movable out of alignment withthe particular compartment for which it is the bottom closure by asimple and novel system of cams and operating levers hereinafter to bedescribed. Each of the bottom members 26 closes one of the verticallydisposed newspaper containing compartments. In the modification shown inthe drawings we have twelve compartments and therefore twelve bottommembers Zil. The bottom members 2E: are blade-like metal stampingsextending transversely of the machine from end to end and disposed inone horizontal plane, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, and each bottom memberis adapted to be moved out of alignment with its respective compartmentby a sliding action. A support member l3 longitudinally slotted at M,extends from front to rear along each side of the machine directly belowthe cross pieces l9 and the blade-like bottom members 20 are slidably vmounted at their ends therein, and so held in close relation with theunder side of the compartments.

We thus have a container divided into twelve vertically arrangedcompartments each closed by a slidable blade-like bottom member whichretains the newspaper or article to be vended in the compartment whenclosed and which, when moved out of aligned relation or its closedposition with its respective compartment, will permit the newspaper todrop downwardly out of the compartment since the bottom member Zli isthe sole means of supporting and retaining the newspaper or otherarticle to be vended in the compartment.

A receiving or delivery chute or tray 2| is disposed beneath the bank ofcompartments as clearly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, and as thenewspaper is dropped it will fall into the tray or chute 2| which isopen at its forward end to the access of the purchaser or operator ofthe vending machine.

We will now describe the novel and improved 5 mechanism of our inventionby which each of the bottom closures 28 can be moved as hereinabovedescribed to cause the newspaper of its respective compartment to fallinto the delivery tray 2|. Our mechanism causes each of the com- 10partments to be emptied consecutively commenc-' ing with the rearmostcompartment, that is, the one shown in the extreme right in Fig. 3, andcontinuing one compartment at a time towards the front so that the frontcompartment, the one 15 illustrated at the left in Fig. 3 will be thetwelfth and last compartment to contain a newspaper.

7 Referring now to Fig. 2, an operating handle or lever 2| isillustrated fixed to one end of a shaft 22 which shaft extends acrossthe back of the go machine as illustrated in Fig. 5 and is rotatablyjournaled in portions 23 of the frame of themachine at both ends of thenewspaper con-- taining compartment. Referring again to Fig. 2,. it willbe noted that a tension spring 24 is secured at one end to an upstandingarm 25 of the frame of our machine and at the other end to a pin- 26 ofthe lever 2i, the spring 24 serving to yieldingly retain the operatinghandle in the positionshown which is the starting position or normal 9:position of the handle prior to an operating movement. The numeral 2?designates a hydraulic cylinder which is suitably associated with theoperating handle 2| to retard the rate of return movement of the handle,and counter balance 35' the spring 24. Such oil cylinder controls areold in the art as door checks and the like. The operating lever 2| hasan arm 28fixed at its inner end and extending downwardly therefrom toform a bell crank lever as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2., A downwardmovement of the handle 2| will ro-- tate the shaft 22 counter-clockwise,as viewed from the right end illustrated in Fig. 2, and will rotate thelower end of the bell crank arm 28 toward the rear of the machine.

A suitable coin control device 30 is shown mounted on the machine andthis particular coin control device does not form any part of our pres.-ent application. An arm 3| extends downwardly and toward the rear of themachine from the coin 5 control device and is pivotally secured" to thelower end of the bell crank lever 28 at 32. The arm 3| is locked againstmovement by the mechanism of" the coin control 3%! and will thereforeprevent downward movement of the handle 2| because of 5 its connectiontherewith at 32 unless the proper, coin is inserted in the device,whereupon the arm 3| will be released and unlocked to permit-a. downwardmovement of the handle 2|. Any-suitable type of coin control for lockingand releasing the 5 arm 3| may be employed.

The operating handle 2| forms the driving: force for the device of ourinvention through its rotation of the shaft 22 and the forward andbackward movement of the lower end of the bell crank 55. arm 28.

We will next describe the novel means of transmitting the movement ofthe handle 2| to the closure members 23 to eifect theirpreviouslydescribed action to eject the magazine, newspaper 70 or otherobject contained in each of the twelve individual compartments.Referring particularly to Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the accompanyingdrawings, it will be noted that each of the blade-like;

bottom members 20 has a. projection. stormed; 5

at each of its outer ends adapted to engage an aperture 35 formed in oneend of an operating link 36, thus fixing each of the twelve members 20at each of its ends between a pair of operating links 36 as illustratedin Fig. 9 of the drawings. A bank of twelve of these links 36 isprovided at either side of the machine, one pair of links for eachbottom member 20. The outermost pair of links 36 is the longest pair andis fixed to the rearmost closure member 20, as clearly shown in Fig. 6,and the next inwardly disposed pair of links 36 is connected to theclosuremember 20 immediately forward of the rearmost closure member, andso on as shown in the drawings until the innermost pair of operatinglinks 36 which will be the twelfth pair of links counting inwardly, willoperate the closure member 20 for the front compartment. Each pair oflevers is shorter than its next outwardly adjacent pair as shown inFigs. 6 and 9. The twelfth pair of levers, therefore, is the shortestpair. A more definite idea of the positioning-of these levers and theircharacteristics may be obtained from a careful observation of thedrawings.

It will be apparent that rearward movement of the outermost pair oflinks 36 will move the rearmost bottom member 2|] out of alignment withthe rearmost compartment and permit the newspaper contained therein todrop into the delivery tray 2|. Likewise, rearward movement of the nextinwardly disposed pair of links 36 will actuate the bottom member 26which is'next to the rear to empty its respective compartment and so onuntil the twelfth pair of links 36, counting inwardly from both sides,will eject the twelfth newspaper from the twelfthor front compartment.

The links 36 extend horizontally along each side of the container unitand each consists of a flat metal stamping placed on edge andimmediately adjacent and slidably contacting another link to form thecompactly arranged banks shown.

As has been previously described, the rear end of each link is fixed toand supported by the outer end of the bottom member 20 which itactuates. The forward end of each link 36 is supported by an upstandingcross member 38 (Fig. 7) A notch 39 is formed in the under side edge ofeach link 36 near its forward end which notch is adapted to fit over thetop edge of the cross member 38, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 7 of thedrawings, for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

An elongated slot 46 is formed in the upper side edge of each link 36above the notch 39 of the underside edge. A pair ofhorizontallyextending arms 4|, one disposed over each bank of links 36on either side of the machine, extend from the front to the rear of themachine (Figs. 6 and 7). The front end of each arm 4| has a downwardlydepending portion 42 which is disposed above the slot 40 and is adaptedto engage the forward and rear ends of the slot 40 in abutting relationwhen the link 36 is raised in a mannor to be hereinafter described.

A pair of vertically disposed guide plates 43 are arranged, one oneither side of the twelve links 36, to guide the links and retain themin proper aligned position. Each plate 43 has a longitudinally extendingslot 44 therein which is adapted to receive the ends of a cross pin 45formed integral with or fixed to and extending across the forward endsof each arm 4|. It will be noted that the cross pins 45 ride in theslots 44 of the plates 43, and are slidable therein and reciprocateforward and back.

The rear end of the arm 4| on the right hand side of the machine, theend shown in Fig. 2, is pivotally fixed at 32 to the lower end of thebell crank 28 of the lever 2|. The rear end of the arm 4| which is fixedon the left hand side of the machine, the end shown in Fig. 4, ispivotally attached at 46 to the lower end of a link 41. The other end ofthe link 47 is fixed on the outer end of the shaft 22.

It is therefore apparent that a downward movement of the operating lever2| will rotate the shaft 22 and cause the bell crank 28 of the rightside of the machine and the link 41 of the left side of the machine tobe swung toward the rear and move both arms 4| toward the rear of themachine. A downward movement of the lever 2| thus causes a rearwardmovement of each arm 4 The downwardly depending end portion 42 of thearm 4| will reciprocate above the slot 45 of each link 36 when the link36 is resting on the cross member 38 with the notch 39 engaging theupper edge of the member 38.

We employ a novel cam means to raise the forward end of each pair oflinks 36 into operative engagement with the arm 4| to cause the links tomove rearwardly and eject the newspapers. It will be apparent that ifthe forward ends of the outermost pair of links 36 are raised, to liftthe notch 39 thereof upwardly out of engagement with the upper edge ofthe member 38, and bring the slot 45 thereof into engagement with theend 42 of the driving arms 4|, that particular pair of links36 would bemoved rearwardly with the arms 4| because of the abutting engagement ofthe end 42 with the rear end of the slot 40.

The cam means provided to raise the forward ends of each pair of links36 into engagement with the arms 4|, in consecutive order, to effectactuation of the respective bottom member '26 associated with each pairof links includes the following. A horizontally disposed shaft 50extends transversely of the machine in front of the newspapercompartments. On each end of this shaft is mounted a bank of twelve disccams iii, one for each link 36 arranged to alternately raise the forwardends of one pair of links 36, com mencing withthe outermost pair oflinks and consecutively raising each succeeding pair counting inwardlyfrom the outermost pair.

The twelve disc cams of each bank are joined to each other to form aunit by suitable studs'or screws 52 (Figs. '7 and 8). One of these banksof cams is disposed under the forward ends of each of the banks of links36 and the cams are disposed rearwardly of the cross members 33.

A cam disc 5| is provided for each link 36 and the underside edge of thelink is adapted to ride on the periphery of its particular cam. Aportion of the periphery of each cam is cut away to permit the links torest on the cross members 38 when the fiat side of the cam underlyingthe link is uppermost.

The Object is to raise the outermost pair of links 36 into operativeengagement with the driving arms 4| first and so effect rearwardmovement of the bottom 26 of the rearmost compartment, and then the nextinwardly disposed pair of links and so on to the last and innermostpair.

This is accomplished by cutting away a correspondingly greater portionof the periphery of each succeeding cam disc to cause one link to beraised at each predetermined amount of rotation of the bank of cams 5|.The amount. is determined by the number of links. Thus for a twelve linkunit as the embodiment herein described, one twelfth more of theperiphery is cut away of each cam disc from the outermost to theinnermost, as clearly shown by the dotted lines in Fig. '7.

Therefore each rotation of of a revolution will turn the periphery ofthe next succeeding cam into operative position to raise its respectivelink.

At the starting point the cut away portion of the periphery of all ofthe cams is uppermost to permit all of the links to rest upon the crossmember 38. The shaft 50 is then rotated of a revolution to rotate thecams a similar amount and'the high point of the first or outermost camwill raise its overlying link 36. The shaft is then rotated another of arevolution with a like result, that is the high point of the nextinwardly disposed cam 55 will raise its overlying link 36. r Theoutermost or first cam will continue to retain the outermost link '36 inraised position because %i of its periphery has not been cut away andthe link will therefore ride the periphery for it of rotation.

Each succeeding of a rotation will raise the next succeeding link. Theposition of the cams and links in Figs. 7 and 8 indicate that the firsttwo cams have been rotated enough to raise the outermost pair of linksand the third cam is in position to raise the third link on the nextrotative movement. The cam bank has therefore been rotated of arevolution in Figs. 7 and 8. a

It is therefore apparent that, one pair of links will be raised at atime and moved rearwardly by the arms ii to eject the newspaper from onecompartment at a time.

Springs 54 are fixed to the lower portion of the cross member 33 and thefront ends of the links 38 as shown to yieldingly retain the links downupon the outer peripheral surface of the cams 5i, and to retain thenotch 39 in interlocking 'rela tion with the cross member 38 prior tolifting by a cam and prevent any accidental dislodgment.

Means is provided to rotate the cam links 5! of one revolution upon eachcomplete downward movement of the operating lever 2 I. This meanscomprises a ratchet 55 fixed to the shaft 50 immediately inwardly of theleft hand bank of cams. A pawl 56 adapted to engage the ratchet is car-.ried by a rocker arm 57 rotatably mounted on the shaft 59; adjacent theratchet 55 as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. A link 58 is pivotally secured at.its forward end at 59 to the upper end of the rocker arm 51 and at itsrear end at 6!] to a link iii. The link iii is fixed to the shaft 22(see Figs. 4 and 6). The pawl and ratchet are arranged to rotate thecams 5i of a revolution upon each complete rearward movement of the link58 and its rocker arm. One downward. movement of the operating handle 2|therefore rotates the cam bank 5! t; of a revolution and raises one pairof the links 36.

A strong fiat snap spring 62 mounted on the, frame of the machineengages the ratchet teeth and prevents accidental movement of the cambank. A coil spring 63 serves to return the rocker arm 51 and its pawlto their original position.

A spring friction clutch of a type well known in the art is indicated atill in Figures 1 and 6, and is associated with and mounted on the shaft50 and fixed to, the frame of the machine to frictionally retard themovement of the shaft. 56;

An indicator of a novel type is provided to indicate to the user of thevending machine how many newspapers or other articles have been ejectedtherefrom and how many are yet contained therein, This indicator isclearly shown in Figures 1 and 5 and comprises an annular spiral cam. 12which isfixed to the shaft 50. Anindicator'arm or needle 13 is pivotallymounted on the front face of the container at 14 and has an outwardlyprojecting stud i5 fixedthereto which is adaptedto, ride on the spiralperiphery of the cam l2.- ,0ne complete revolution of the shaft 50 willcause the stud 15 to travel from the lowest point on the cam to thehighest point and so shift or rotate the needle indicator 13 from theright to the left; The needle 73 is urged to the right and the; stud I-5urged against the spiral periphery of the cam 721 by a. suitable spring76 shown in Figure 3. The proper indicia or numeral 1 to 12 arelaidouton the front surface of the container in a manner which will require ofa revolution of the shaft 5a to move the indicator needle from onenumber to the other. The indicating apparatus is adjusted so that whenall of the twelve containers are filled with newspapers and all of thelinks 36- are resting downwardly upon the cross. member 318 with thecut-away peripheries of all of the cams uppermost, the indicator willpoint to the numeral 12. As the pawl and ratchet drive mechanism rotatesthe shaft 58 and accom panying' cam banks of a, revolution, theindicator will be moved to the next numeral 11 to indicate that thenewspaper in the twelfth or rear-most, compartment has been deliveredand that there are eleven newspapers remaining to be delivered. In. theposition of the mechanism as illustrated my the drawings, particularlyas we have noted in Figures 7 and 8, the outermost pair of links havebeen raised and the rearmost pair of compartments emptied, and thereforethe indicator needle points to the numeral 10 to indicate that thecompartment l2 and compartment II have been emptied.

In the coin control device 39 shown associated with the machine of ourinvention, we have provided two coin receiving slots 89 and 8! fordifferent size coins with a rotatable selector partition 82 which may beadjusted by the owner of the vending machine to receive the desired sizecoin. The numeral 83' indicates a coin returnchute and the numeral 83 apull lever for operating the same so that the purchaser may cause hiscoin to be returned if the device does not operate.

We have illustrated in Figures 10 and 11 a novel device for preventingthe insertion of a coin in either of the coin receiving slots to or 8|when the operating handle 2| is in any other than its starting position.The operating handle in all of theflgures of the drawings is shown inraised or starting position. The strong spring 24 is designed to returnthe handle to this position after each operation, but as an addedprecaution t prevent jamming of themachine by inserting a coin beforethe handle is returned to its starting point, we have provided the novelfeature shown. This device comprises an arm which is a flat stampingpivotally mounted for swinging movement at 89 on the inner surface ofthe housing SI of our vending machine and adapted to extend along theentire length of the slot 92 in which the operating handle 2|reciprocates in its upward and downward movements and is adapted toclose the slot 22 when swung fiithe position indicated in Figure 10. Theoperating handle 2i projects through the slot 92 in the housing 9i and abeveled edge portion 93 of the member 99 is adapted to engage theunderside of the operating handle 2i when the handle is in its raisedand starting position as shown in the drawings. A spring 9 is fixed tothe member 90 in the housing 53! and urges the member 99 to the right asshown. It is apparent that when the operating handle 25 is presseddownwardly, it'will exert a cam-like action on the beveled edge 93 ofthe swinging member 95 and cause it to swing to the left throughout theentire downward movement of the operating handle and the member 9.9 willnot be returned by the spring 94 to the position shown in the drawingsuntil the operating handle is raised to its uppermost position becauseof the design of the member 99 with its cut away beveled portion 93disposed as shown. When the member 99 is swung to the left, it willcompletely close both oi the coin receiving slots 88 and St to preventthe insertion of the coin except when the operating handle 2! is instarting position.

We have illustrated in Figure 12 a modified form of cam means forraising the forward end of the links 35 which is for the same purpose asthe cam means and operates with the same effect except that theparticular design illustrated in Figure 12 permits a more rapid andabrupt raising of the outer end of the link 36 and consequently a fasteraction which in some cases is found to be desirable. We effect thisresult by reversing the pawl and ratchet action and the direction of therotation of the shaft 59 through suitable linkage so that the shaftrotates in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 12. Theunderside of the link 38 has a notch 95 cut therein and the portion ofthe periphery of the cam 5| which is cut-away has an abutment 96 formedtherein by the manner in which it is out, which abutment as is adaptedto engage and abut one end of the notch 95 as shown in Figure 12immediately prior to the raising of the link 36. In each of the cams theabutment 96 is brought into contact with the edge of the notch 95 of thelink 35 by the rotative movement immediately preceding the one designedto raise that particular link. On the next rotative movement of of arevolution of the shaft 52, the abutment 96, disposed as it is in thenotch 95 of the link 36, will kick the link 35 upwardly very abruptly tocause it to ride on the outer periphery of the cam as contrasted to themore gradual raising of the link 36 in the form of our inventionhereinbefore described. The result effected in every way is the samewith the one exception that the link 36 will thus be raised more quicklywith a sharper and faster action.

In the operation of the device of our invention, the user or prospectivepurchaser of the magazine or other article vended places a coin in oneof the slots 80 or 8! which releases the coin control locking mechanismand permits the handle 2! to be rotated downwardly. One downwardmovement of the handle 2! will cause the cam mechanism 5| to raise onepair of the links 35 into engagement with the driving arms 4! and carrythat particular pair of links 36 rearwardly to eject the newspaper fromthe compartment. The user then receives his newspaper in the deliverytray 2!. The spring 24 returns the operating handle to its uppermostposition and the device is ready to eject the newspaper from the nextsucceeding screw head 99 is fixed in the outer end of the 5 shaft 50.This arrangement permits the resetting of the cam when the vendingmachine is being refilled.

Formal changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the inventiondescribed without departing "from the spirit or substance of the broadinvention, the scope of which is commensurate with the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a vending machine, a container having individual compartments forcontaining the articles to be vended, a closure member extending acrossthe bottom of each compartment and projecting beyond either side endthereof, two banks of operating links one disposed on either side of thecompartments, a link in each bank associated with the projecting ends ofthe closure members in a manner whereby one pair of links is connectedwith one closure member, a pair of manually operated driving arms oneextending over each bank of links along each side end of the machine,said arm adapted to reciprocate forwardly and rearwardly of the machine,a depending hook portion formed on the forward end or each of saidoperating arms, a notch formed 80 on the upper edge of the forwardlydisposed end of each of the links adapted to be brought into engagementwith the hook member of the operating arm, a bank of cams one disposedon either side of the machine under each bank of links and 85 driven bythe same source of power as the operating arms, said cams arrangedimmediately below the forward ends of the links and adapted to raise onepair of links at a time in consecutive order into engagement with thehook members of the operating arms to cause the individual andconsecutive actuation of the individual closure members of eachcompartment in consecutive order.

2. In a device of the class described, a compartment, a cross-wiseextending closure member for the bottom of said compartment, a pair oflinks having their ends attached to the outer ends of the closuremember, an operating arm extending over each of said links, a bell crank60 lever associated with said operating arms and adapted to reciprocatesaid arms forwardly and rearwardly over said links, and a cam disposedon the under side of the forward end of each of said links adapted toraise the forward end of each of said links into operative engagementwith each of said operating arms to cause said arms to move said linksrearwardly when the arms are reciprocated by the bell crank lever and somove the closure'member out of alignment with the compartment, said camsbeing operatively associated with the bell crank lever to raise saidlinks into engagement with said arms upon an operative movement of saidbell crank lever.

3. In a machine of the class described, a plurality of individualcontainers, a closure member for each container, a pair of links fixedto the ends of each closure member and adapted to reciprocate forwardlyand rearwardly and so move the closure member out of alignment with itsparticular container, a common operating arm for each group of links,said arm adapted for rearward and forward movements and manually driven,cam means for causing the pair of links for each closure member to beassociated with the operating arm'intermittently and in consecutiveorder upon each Completed rearward and ity of links and having adownwardly depending portion at its end thereof, said arm being drivenforwardly and rearwardly of the device over the links, a slot-formed inthe upper edge of each of the links adapted to be brought intoengagement with the driven arm to cause that particular link to bedriven rearwardly and forwardly by the 3 arm, a rotatable disc camdisposed under each 20 of the links, each link riding on the outerperiphery of one of said disc cams, a portion of the periphery of eachof said disc cams being cut away to permit the links to be normallydisposed downwardly out of engagement with the driven arm,

the amount of the periphery of each cam which is cut away beingpredetermined to cause each adjacent succeeding cam to raise theparticular link which rests upon its outer surface into engagement withthe operating arm upon a predetermined fraction of a revolution of thegroup of cams.

5. In a device of the class described, a driving arm having a downwardlydepending end por tion, a driven link having a slot formed in its upperedge disposed below said downwardly depending end portion, a rotatablydriven disc cam 5 disposed beneath said driven link and engaging theunder surface of said link, a portion of the periphery of said cam beingcut away to permit the link to lie below the driving arm out of en- Igagement therewith, and pawl and ratchet means associated with thedriving arm to cause said cam to be rotated'a predetermined fraction ofa revolution upon a driving movement of said arm to cause the uncutportion of the periphery of the cam to'be brought into engagement withthe under side of the driven link and bring the slot of saidlinkintoengagement with the downwardly depending portion of the driving arm. 7

6. In a device of the class described, a driven link adapted forengagement with a. driving arm, a rotatable disc cam disposed on theunder side of said link and adapted to raise said link into operativeengagement with the driving arm, a slot formed in the under side edge ofsaid link,

a shoulder formed in the periphery of said cam 85 adapted to abut theend of the slot of said link in a manner whereby said link will bethrown abruptly upwardly upon a rotative movement of said cam.

EARL P. MILLER. ALBERT R. McCALLUM.

